King & Wood Mallesons has bolstered its banking practice in Singapore with the addition of Gary Hamp, who was previously an independent consultant in London. Hamp is KWM’s first Asia partner hire in 2024.

Hamp has previously served as head of Hogan Lovells’ Hong Kong banking practice, and co-led Latham & Watkins’ Hong Kong banking group, before moving to London as a partner with Shearman & Sterling in 2020. He quit Shearman in September 2022 to set up an independent consultancy practice, according to his LinkedIn bio.

Hamp advises clients across Asian jurisdictions on leveraged finance, acquisition finance, structured lending and secured syndicated financings in addition to acting for private credit funds and advising on the banking law aspects of complex restructurings.

The firm has also announced two partner promotions in Singapore and Hong Kong. M&A counsel Indraneil Ghosh has been made partner in Singapore, while M&A specialist Ike Kutlaca, who also led the education practice group at KWM, has been made partner in Hong Kong.

This comes on the back of losing counsel Gary Lam, who joined Hong Kong firm Oldham, Li & Nie earlier this year.